DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on August 1, 2024, has been entered. Claims 1 – 15 have been cancelled. Claims 16 – 31 have been added. Therefore, the pending claims are 16 – 31.
Definition of Terms
The term “outermost polygonal perimeter” is considered to outer surface of the first material polymer used to surround the polymeric columns. There is not considered to be an outer coating or layer formed from a material different from the first material polymer. The product is interpreted as being an island in the sea composite fiber wherein the sea material is equivalent to the first material filling areas between the columns. The polymeric column component is equivalent to the islands components.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 16, 17, 19 – 22, and 24 – 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nihlstrand et al. (2011/0027568) in view of Kano et al. (WO 2018/012318 A1)
Nihlstrand et al. discloses a multi-component fiber comprising a first material including a phase change material and a second material that encloses the first material (abstract). The structure can have an island-in-the-sea configuration (paragraph 11, Figures 2 and 3). Nihlstrand et al. discloses that the components include viscosity modifier so that the viscosity ratio of the viscosity of component 1 to the viscosity of component 2 is between 0.1 and 10 (paragraph 66). Component 1, Nihlstrand’s first material, is equivalent to the applicant’s columns. And component 2, Nihlstrand’s second material, is equivalent to the applicant’s first material.
While Nihlstrand shows various shapes of fibers and teaches that the fibers in the present invention can be variety of regular or irregular shapes, such as oval, rectangular, square-shaped, multi-lobal, pentagonal, trapezoidal, triangular, wedge-shaped (paragraph 77), Nihlstrand fails to teach specifically making an island-in-the-sea with non-circular cross-sections for the island components or bicomponent fiber. Kano et al. is drawn to multicomponent fibers with an islands-in-the-sea structure (Title). Kano et al. teaches that the sea-island fiber type can be various shapes including multilobal or polygonal (page 10, second paragraph). Further, the island components can also have different shapes such as non-circular shapes. The figures show that the island component can be shapes such as hexagonal, multilobal, tear drop shape (Figure 1h – 1j). The larger region of the lobal and tear drop shape is closer to the perimeter. The tear drop shape is equivalent to pear shape. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the use any of the known fiber and island shapes as taught by Kano et al. in the multicomponent fiber of Nihlstrand since Nihlstrand discloses that different shape fibers can be used to make the claimed invention. Thus, claims 16, 17, and 22 are rejected.
Further, with regards to the claimed optically transparent and optically absorbing properties recited in the claims, the applicant’s disclosure teaches that the optical properties are a result of adding pigments or dyed to the first filling material and not the column components. Nihlstrand teaches that known additive can be added to the first material. Kano et al. teaches that additives added to the polymeric components of the fibers can include anti-coloring agents, latexes, fillers, inks, coloring agents, dyes, and pigments (page 7, paragraph 3). Thus, it would have been obvious to add additives such as dyes, pigments, or coloring agents to the first material of Nihlstrand et al. since Nihlstrand teaches known additives can be used in the fiber. Hence Nihlstrand would produce a pigmented or dyed first component without color additives included in the island components. Thus, the combination would have the same structure as the claimed invention and meet the required optical properties. Thus, claims 20 and 25 are rejected. Further, claims 21 and 26 are rejected since the polymeric material forming the first component would act as a binder.
Nihlstrand et al. and Kano et al. fail to teach the surface tension of the island components relative to the first material. However, it would be within the level skill of the art to optimize the surface tension of the two components to allow for the co-extrusion of the components readily into multicomponent fiber as the final product. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the surface tension can be chosen so that the island components have a higher surface tension than the filler component. Thus, claims 19 and 24 are rejected.
Claim(s) 18, 23, and 27 – 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nihlstrand et al. and Kano et al. as applied to claim 16 and 22 above, and further in view of Haggard et al. (2005/0032450).
The features of Nihlstrand et al. and Kano et al. have been set forth above. While Nihlstrand et al. discloses that the multicomponent fibers can have various configurations including different shapes, including different materials as the island component (paragraph 81). Nihlstrand et al. fails to teach using a third material surrounding another polymer in the island component. Haggard et al. discloses that the multicomponent fiber can include island components with a sheath core configuration (paragraph 35). The sheath component would be equivalent to the claimed cladding. The island component can be surrounded with a third polymer (paragraph 35). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that the multicomponent structure of Nihlstrand et al. can be modified to include a third component acting as a sheath or cladding around the island component of Nihlstrand et al. as taught by Haggard et al. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use known techniques to modify the properties of the known multicomponent fiber structure to yield predictable final product. Further, the shapes of the components can be chosen from various known shapes to produce different combinations of shaped products. Thus, claims 23, 27, 28, 29, 3, and 31 are rejected.
Further, Haggard et al. teaches that the sea section is 20 – 30% of the multicomponent fiber. Thus, it would have been obvious to create a multicomponent fiber wherein the sea or filling component to 20 to 30% of the total multicomponent fiber since it is known in the art to use a lower amount of sea component. Thus, claim 18 is rejected.
Conclusion
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jlj
September 5, 2026
/JENNA L JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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